The best Present a Dragon could give
by Luna Nightrider
Summary: Sequel to Dragon Conquerors by Definition. Snoggletog is coming up and for the first time in viking history, humans and dragons are celebrating together. But what will happen when all the dragons suddenly vanish? Is it really up to Hiccup and Hilja to save the day?
1. Chapter 1

So this is the sequel to Deagon Conquerors: my version of Gift of the night fury. Please excuse any errors, I didn't proofread the chapter after writing it. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1

"**This is Berk, boasting the kind of balmy, fun-in-the-sun climate that will give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday. We call it Snoggletog. Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery. But with the war long over, and dragons living among us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember."**

Hiccup woke due to someone banging on the roof. A second later the door to his room flew open.

"Morning, sleepy head!" his twin sister Hilja shouted. "Come on, wake up already!"

By now she was next to his bed and pulled the blanket away.

"Hey!" Hiccup complained,rolled to the other side and pulled his knees up to his chest. "Give me a few minutes, please." he murmured.

The banging got louder and Hiccup groaned. With his eyes closed he reached for his helmet in vain until his sister tossed it to him.

"Would you please stand up now?" Hilja asked impatiently.

"I'm coming." He stood up and went down the stairs.

Hiccup opened the front door and looked up at the roof.

"Well, good morning, Mr. Bossy!" he called up to the black dragon jumping up and down and making a few shingles fall to the ground.

Toothless seems to answer him and Hiccup chatters back while Hilja exits the house after him followed by her dragon Wildfire.

Toothless climbs down the roof and Hiccup walks towards him.

"Do you always have to wake me up so early to go flying?"

"Hiccup! The ice!"

Too late. Hiccup had already slipped thanks to his metal leg and would have fallen painfully if Toothless hadn't caught him in time.

Hiccup stared at his prosthetic. "Stupid leg. Thanks buddy, I'm okay." Toothless nudges him eagerly. "Yeah, we can go flying now."

The siblings mounted their dragons and were flying far away from Berk over the ocean a few minutes later.

"Come on! Let's see what you've got today!" Hiccup shouted and he and Toothless dove down a cliff face while the girls slowly glided after them.

"Hiccup, wait! We have this new trick I wanted to show you!" Hilja called after him.

Hiccup turned around in his saddle. "Really? We too." he shouted against the howling wind.

The boys flew up to an arch of rock and Hiccup went to stand in the saddle.

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" Hilja called, worry audible in her voice.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Obviously a trick, you'll see."

"Okay, you ready?" he asked his dragon. They were right in front of the arch now and Hiccup jumped into the air.

Hilja looked in awe as her brother leaped over the arch while his dragon glided beneath it.

"Yes! Finally!" Hiccup cheered.

Them the boys closed up to them again.

"So, what is yours?" Hiccup asked her, his eyes glinting.

"By far it as impressive as yours." she said and signified her dragon to fly straight up.

Wildfire shot through the sky, turning here and there making Hilja whoop in joy. At last the girl let herself fall from the saddle and dragon and rider plummeted towards the sea. A few dozen meters above the ocean Wildfire seized her rider, tossed the girl into the air, flew beneath her and caught her in the saddle.

Breathing heavily Hilja looked at Hiccup.

"Not impressive?" he asked her in bewilderment. "I never thought you would dare jumping off your dragon!" he exclaimed.

Hilja beamed.

Back at home everyone was preparing for the upcoming holidays.

"Here?" A viking woman was sitting on a Gronckle and held up a shield.

"Yes, yes, nooo, nooo, no." Gober stood on the ground and instructed her where to hang the shield. "That one a wee bit higher!"

"Here?" she asked again and Gobber nodded.

"There! Ah, that's the spot!"

"Alright!" she called at him and attached it.

"Roar!" A little girl, running around dressed as a Gronckle, came up next to Meatlug. The Gronckle playfully roared back and the child giggled happily.

"Attaboy, Meatlug!" Fishlegs praised his dragon from nearby.

In the middle of the plaza stood a tall wooden structure that looked remarkably like a tree.

"Are you ready, girl?" Astrid threw two shields in the air Stormfly used her tail spikes to nail them to the tree.

"Odin's beard, Gobber. Vikings spending the winter holiday with dragons. What would our fathers say?"

Stoick and Gobber were walking nearby, the chief supervising the preparations.

"They'd think we'd lost our minds!" Gobber answered and chuckled.

Stoick laughed and then turned to the villagers. "Well done. Well done, all of you! I've never thought I'd live to see this day. Peace on the island of Berk. This will surely be the greatest holiday we've ever seen!"

Suddenly the dragons seem to get nervous.

"What the …?!" Stoick asked bewildered and looked up.

Hundreds of dragons were flying above the island and the Berkian dragon went to join them.

"What in Thor's name?!" Gobber looked around at the departing reptiles.

"Come back! Where are you going?" Snotlout shouted after his dragon who had left him dangling from a roof, but none of the dragons obeyed their human's orders.

Fishlegs was weaving through the crowd like crazy. "Meatlug!"

Astrid looked worriedly at the sky. "Where's Hiccup?" she asked noone in particular.

The boy in question was still enjoying the flight with his sister and their dragons.

"What do you say, bud? Wanna go again?" Hiccup asked, a broad grin on his face.

"What's that?" Hilja suddenly asked and pointed ahead.

When Hiccup looked up he saw hundreds of dragons coming in their direction. Toothless and Wildfire tried to swerved them.

"Oh no! My helmet!" Hiccup suddenly exclaimed when a passing dragon accidentally pushed it off his head.

Toothless began diving after the helmet until Hiccup finally managed to make him stop.

"Whoa. Wait! Toothless! Stop! We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on."

Meanwhile Wildfire was getting restless, seemingly wanting to join the other dragons on their flight.

"Easy girl." Hilja tried to soothe her dragon. "No, come on! It's this way!" she began to shout when Wildfire finally managed to turn around.

Reluctantly Wildfire resumed her flight home, catching up with the boys again.

"What's the matter? Where are you going?" On Berk the dragons were still flying away, leaving confused vikings behind.

"Nonono!" Astrid shouted when her deadly Nadder took off too. "Don't leave, Stormfly, don't go! Please?" She was starting to sound desperate as Stormfly flew away.

At that moment Hiccup, Hilja and their dragons touched down. The boy immediately ran to Astrid, calling her name.

"Hiccup! What's going in? Where are they going?"

In no time the Haddock twins were swarmed by vikings.

"Why did they leave?" "Whats happening?" "Will they ever come back?" they all asked at the same time. Neither of the kids understood anything so Hiccup interrupted them.

"Stop! Wait!"

"Calm down! Give them a chance to speak!" Stoick was weaving his way through the crowd and stopped in front of his kids. "Hiccup, Hilja, where are all our dragons going?"

The siblings shared a look and then turned to their father.

"Dad … I don't know." Hiccup said in all honesty.

In the meantime Wildfire had left her rider and was flying just off the cliff, encouraging Toothless to join her. After a few minutes the Scuttleclaw gave up and turned away.

"Wildfire!" Hilja desperately called after her departing dragon, running towards the cliff and sadly looking after her.

Stoick had called a meeting in the Great Hall to discuss the problem.

"Where'd they go?! Snoggletog is ruined!" a viking sadly spoke to his neighbor. Stoick had heard him.

"It's not ruined!" He contradicted and climbed one of the tables. "We're vikings! We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations. And there's no reason we can't do it again! Now we don't know where they've gone off to. But we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon. Am I right?"

"You're right, we are vikings! We are tough!" Gobber enthusiastically thrusted his arm into the air, which had bells instead of the usual weapon. "Most of the time …"

The teens are standing in a corner of the Hall, all looking sad.

"Let's sing some Snoggletog songs!" Gobber exclaimed, which made the teens leave the Great Hall.

"That was depressing …" Ruffnut groaned as soon as they were outside.

"I know! I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly." Astrid added.

Suddenly Fishlegs started whistling and Tuffnut questioningly looked at him.

"What are you so happy about? Don't you miss Meatlug?"

Fishlegs looked up as if he had been caught with something. "Me? Oh! Yeah!" He started to fake sobbing. "I miss him so much!" Fishlegs stopped his sobs. "Well, good night!" He said cheerful and walked away.

"I've got an idea!" Astrid spoke up and turned around in front of the others. "Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions! You know, to bury the sadness!"

Everyone looked at her questioningly, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout groaned.

Hiccup decided to join his friend's side. "Actually, Astrid might be on to something."

"You too?" Hilja looked at her brother as if he had gone mad.

"Easy for you to say. Your dragon can't go anywhere without you." Tuffnut interrupted an looked at Toothless sitting on a cliff.

"Must be nice." his sister added.

Hiccup and Hilja shared a look and knew they were thinking the same.

"To the forge?" Hikja asked with a grin and Hiccup nodded.

"Yaknog! Get your Yaknog! Come on! Get a frothy delicious cup of cheer!" a voice shouted through the village the next morning. Astrid had come up with a new holiday beverage and now wanted everyone to try it.

"Hey, guys!" she called, when finding her friends. "Try this tasty new beverage I made for the holidays."

Astrid showed a cup to Tuffnut.

"Ugh! What's that smell? Is that you?" he turned questioningly to his sister and shoved her away.

"Its Yaknog!"

Tuffnut coughed and wrinkled his nose, clearly disgusted.

"Ugh! If I drink that I'm gonna take nog all over the place!" he exclaimed, keeping his distance from the tray.

"Maybe you'd rather taste a punch in the face?" Astrid suggested.

Ruffnut now came nearer again, smelled the cup in Astrid's and recoiled.

"Astrid, it sounds delightful. I'd love a mug." Snotlout was weaving his way towards the friends, once again trying to hit on the girl of his dreams.

Astrid hands him the already filled mug and he takes a gulp, visibly shuddering from the bad taste.

"You could really taste the yak!" he stated after forcing himself to swallow.

"Mmm, yum! What is that?" Fishlegs chimed in as he too showed up.

Astrid turned to face him. "Oh! You wanna try some? It's my new traditional drink."

Unknown to Astrid Snotlout was standing behind her, shaking his head with a warning look. Fishlegs took the hint and recoiled.

"Oh … You know … Ehm … I have … suddenly inexplicably changed my mind." he stuttered. This didn't deter Astrid.

"Well, you don't know what you're missing. I bet Hiccup will love this." With those words she runs off to find said boy.

Meanwhile Ruffnut noticed Snotlouts discomfort.

"Are you crying?"

Astrid found Hiccup, along with his sister, in the forge, the two working on a new project.

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah, I'm over here, Astrid. Coming!" he answered her call.

"Here. Happy holidays, from me to you." she said, handing him the last cup from her tray.

"Thank you, Milady!" Hiccup replied and took the mug.

"Hey Hilja. Sorry, this was the last one."

Hilja declined. "It's okay."

Astrid noticed what Hiccup was working on. "What are you up to?"

"Okay, you're gonna think I'm crazy, but I just couldn't stop thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Toothless can't come and go like the other dragons, and ghosts just not fair. We were up all night and I think we found a way to fix that."

Hiccup shows Astrid a new tail fin and afterwards takes a sip of the Yaknog. Disgusted by the unpleasant taste he refuses to swallow, simultaneously trying to hide it from Astrid.

"No way! Our building,t him a new tail? So he's gonna be able to fly without you!" Astrid exclaimed when she realized what lay before her.

"Hmhm!" Hiccup agreed, his mouth still full of Yaknog, and sent a silent call for help to his sister.

She understood and chimed in on the conversation.

"Yeah, it's an automatic tail fin that Toothless can work alone."

Hiccup used the little moment to run into his little room to get rid of the Yaknog in his mouth. Then he showed up again.

"Wnat if he never comes back?" Astrid asked as he went through the door.

"What?" he asked confused as Astrid continued.

"What am I saying? Of course he will!"

Hiccup and Hilja nodded and Astrid left the forge.

"Well, I'm going spread some more holiday cheer! You're amazing!" she called, turning in the door frame before vanishing.

After Astrid left, Hilja worriedly turned to her brother.

"You don't really look good."

"Probably because this stuff tasted worse than a raw fish regurgitated by a dragon." he stated with a smirk. "How about we try this out now?"

The twins ran to their house together, where Toothless was once again jumping on the roof.

"Toothless! Come on down, bud! I got something for ya!" Hiccup called to his dragon who excited jumped off the roof and landed in front if his human, curiously sniffing the contraption in Hiccup's arms.

"What do you think of that? Yeah!"

Toothless began to run around playfully, which made Hilja laugh.

"I'd say he love it!"

"Maybe a bit too much." Hiccup agreed. "Would you settle down! Toothless! Come on, bud!" he tried to calm the excited dragon. "Let me get that on you! Yeah! You are going to love this. Okay."

Hiccup finally managed to get the tailfin where it meant to be, only for Toothless to freak out about it.

"Nonono … To-Toothless! Stop! Please, wait! Toothless, please!"

Toothless continued trying to get rid of the thing on his tail when it suddenly opened, immediately calming Toothless down again.

"Here you go. See? Got it?" Hiccup reassured. Toothless looked at the boy, his eyes slowly turning to slits. Without any warning the dragon shot into the sky, flying away from Berk without a look behind.

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Okay, so the other part will be up next week. I hope you liked this.


	2. Chapter 2

Rejoice! Part two is finally here! Seriously, this took ages to write. This plus a writer's block is like the worst possible combination for any author.

Shout-outs:

Fidget the Zorua Fossil Fighte: You can play Forbidden Friendship? On what instrument? And the reason for the change of Stoick's words in chapter 9 is simple: With two kids the matching set doesn't work anymore, so I left that out. Well, read on to find out ...

I have a bit more to say, but I'll do it in the author's note at the end of the chapter. For now, enjoy!

* * *

Three days had par and Hiccup was lying in his bed after waking up and worried about Toothless, when suddenly a loud banding started on the roof. Excitedly he ran out, pumping into Hilja who came out of her room at the same time.

"Do you think the dragons are back?" Hilja asked him, excitement visible all over her face.

Hiccup simply nodded, not trusting his voice to work properly.

Together they exited the house, only for Hiccup to once again slip on the eyes. Only difference: this time there was no Toothless to catch him, so he landed painfully on his back.

Hilja worriedly kneeled next to him. "Areyou okay?" she asked in her usual caring manner.

Hiccup nodded and tried to get up.

"Morning, kids!" Stoick called from the roof, where he hammered the shingles back in place.

"Oh, hey, dad …" Hiccup answered and finally got up again.

"Glad you're up! I was looking for your helmet, Hiccup."

This caught the boy by surprise. His helmet was still on the bottom of the ocean a few miles from Berk.

"My-My helmet?" he asked stuttering.

Stock nodded. "Odin needs a place to out your goodies."

"Yeah, right … I-I'll get on that. Great …" Hiccup stuttered and turned to walk away.

"Hold on! Hold on." Stoick climbed down the roof and stood in front of his children, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "Alright … Come on. What's on your mind? Out with it."

The boy looked up at his father. "Oh, it's been three days, dad. I just thought Toothless would be back by now."

Hilja chimed in: "All of us are missing our dragons. If only we had an idea where they were…"

"I'm sure they are all together." Stoick tried to reassure his kids."

"Yeah? I wish I can be that sure." Hiccup murmured.

"Ah listen …" Stoick took a few seconds to find the right words. "I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what do we do, when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate them! And I imagine that is exactly what Toothless and Wildfire would want you to do. Right?" He looked at his children and smiled.

"You're right." Hiccup sighed, while Hilja only nodded.

"Good! Then go get that helmet! We've had enough disappointment around here."

* * *

Sometime later, the twins were on their way to the docks, Hiccup carrying a pair of oars, when Fishlegs bumped into them, carrying a large basket full of fish.

"Oh, Fishlegs, you hungry? There's enough fish there to feed a dragon!" Hiccup asked curiously.

Fishlegs laughed nervously. "Oh, a dragon? That's…"

Instead of any explaining he just ran away and his in a barn. Hiccup and Hilja followed him suspiciously and waited until Fishlegs left.

Hiccup leaned the oars against the wall and carefully opened the door. Inside was Meatlug, chained to a pole, but as soon as the door opened, the dragon used all his strength to break the chains. On his way out, he carried Hiccup with him.

"MEATLUG?!" Hiccup asked the dragon, while Hilja screamed his name.

The boy and dragon flew above Astrid, who worriedly called up to him

"Hiccup? Where are you going?!"

"I HAVE NO IDEA!" he screamed back, just when Fishlegs realized his dragon flying away.

"Meatlug? What about presents?! Hey!"

The dragon took no notice and carried on flying away.

* * *

The remaining teens met up at the barn.

"I can't believe him." Fishlegs murmured in disapproval.

"YOU can't believe HIM?!" Astrid practically yelled at him. "YOU KIDNAPPED YOUR DRAGON!"

"And that dragon then kidnapped my brother!" Hilja added.

Fishlegs ducked before the two angry girls. "Well, that makes it sound so mean."

"It IS mean!" Hilja added before Tuffnut interrupted the argument.

"Hey, guys?"

Neither Astrid, nor Hilja paid him any attention.

"He flew away the second he was unleashed!" Astrid shot at him.

Fishlegs tried to defend himself: "I'm 72% sure he wanted to stay-"

"GUYS!" Tuffnut tried again, this time being successful.

Fishlegs turned to look at what Ruff and Tuff had found.

"Whoa … Meatlug barfed up a pile of rocks."

Ruffnut shook her head. "You're such an Idiot! This aren't rocks, your dragon laid eggs!"

Astrid and Hilja looked at each other, realizing they came to the same conclusion at the same time. Astrid said it aloud:

"Hey, wait! I bet that's why the dragons left: to lay their eggs!"

"Yeah, they must have a special place to raise their hatchlings!" Hilja added.

Fishlegs looked at them confused. "But, boy dragons don't lay eggs." he said.

"Yeah, your boy dragon is a girl dragon." Ruffnut explained.

Fishlegs seemed to realize something. "Okay, that actually explains a few things." he said quietly.

Astrid got an idea. "Hey! Everyone's missing their dragons, right?"

"Oh, here it comes." Snotlout groaned.

"I've got an idea!" She cheered while tying a ribbon around one of the eggs. "It'll be another new Snoggletog tradition!"

Hilja seemed to be the only one to be cautious. "Astrid, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, those are Meatlug's babies."

Astrid shrugged her of and began to wrap more ribbons around other eggs.

"Oh, this is gonna be so good!" Astrid whispered as they hurriedly left the barn and spread through the village, leaving a wrapped egg in every household.

Hilja was still sceptical, but decided to join anyway.

* * *

Hiccup had meanwhile climbed onto Meatlug's back.

"Whoa! Meatlug, where are you taking me?"

They almost flew into a ship but Meatlug steered out of the way just in time.

When flying down again the fog cleared and an island became visible in front of them. It was full of hot springs and thousands of dragons were nesting, baby dragons running around them.

"You guys come here to have babies!" Hiccup concluded, before almost get run into by two baby dragons chasing each other.

A nearby Gronckle is pushing her eggs into one of the springs. The babies hatch under water and one climbs out.

Hiccup noticed one egg lying nearby and walked towards it.

"Hey, look over here, you missed one." Before he can notice the mother's worried look, the egg explodes, throwing Hiccup to the ground.

"Man, it's a good thing g those don't hatch on Berk!" Hiccup realized, not knowing about Meatlug's eggs.

* * *

On Berk the teens had just finished placing eggs in every house and gathered in the town centre.

"Wasn't this a great idea?" Astrid asked excitedly.

Fishlegs nodded. "Uh-huh! Everyone's gonna be so surprised!"

One of the eggs exploded, the hatchling hit Fishlegs square in the chest and threw him back.

"Surprise!" Snotlout cackled before the hatchling landed on Fishlegs chest, making the teens except for Astrid and Hilja coo at it.

Astrid and Hilja shared a scared look.

"The eggs … explode?" Astrid asked, just before eggs all around exploded, destroying the houses and even the Snoggletog tree in the Plaza.

"THE EGGS EXPLODE!" she now screamed and started run around, apologising to everyone whose house got destroyed.

Ruff and Tuff looked at each other, amazed by the chaos.

"Awesome!" Ruffnut exclaimed.

"Wow!" her brother agreed.

"Are you serious? Everything is being destroyed and you like it?" Hilja shouted at them. The Thornton's simply shrugged.

Now Snotlout turned to Astrid: "This is your best idea yet!" he congratulated her.

It was in this moment that Stoick arrived at the plaza and tiredly looked at all the chaos.

"What in Thor's name is going on?!" he boomed, looking at the gathered teens.

"Dad, we can explain…" Hilja started, before Astrid interrupted her.

"The eggs explode." she stated, just as the last unharmed house exploded too, making her smile nervously.

* * *

Hiccup was still on the hatchery island, walking around and searching for his dragon.

"Toothless! Toothless? Ah, Toothless, where are you?"

But instead of his own he came upon his friend's and sister's dragons instead.

"Hookfang! Stormfly! Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" he cheered. "Hey Wildfire." Hiccup caressed the scuttleclaw's neck tenderly and then looked at the ground.

"And you have … babies? Oh, look at you guys! All happy, together." That got him thoughtful. "Who knew you are leaving to celebrate your own sort of …" he searched for the right word. "... holiday. I should get back to my holiday. So what do you say there, Hookfang? Think, you could give me a ride back home?"

The dragon complied and soon Hiccup was sitting on his back. Before flying away, he turned around to say goodbye.

"I'll see you all back on Berk when you're good and ready, okay, hang?" he asked and Hookfang took off.

However, the adult dragons followed, leaving the babies behind. Hiccup soon noticed the problem.

"Oh … Nono nonono … I think I just started the return migration."

The hatchling stayed at the edge of the cliff, eager to follow, but seeming unsure.

"Well, if you insist!" Hiccup invited them.

A few babies took off but were unable to fly past the strong winds going up the cliff side.

The boy encouraged them: "Come on! Come on!"

The babies landed back on the island, leaving a discouraged Hiccup on Hookfang's back.

"Ah, boy, this is never gonna work." he paused when a thought crossed his mind. "Oh, hold on, I've got just the thing."

* * *

On Berk Stoick and Gobber were walking through the village, inspecting the damage.

"Ah, Gobber, this is a disaster."

Gobber tried to encourage him.

"Ah, it's not so bad."

Stoick looked at him as if his friend had gone mad.

"Oh, not that bad? The village is destroyed. The dragons have gone and left us. Let's face it - this holiday is a complete-"

He got interrupted by his own daughter.

"Dad, look!"

Stoick looked up and saw something shimmering high up in the sky. He squinted to see better.

"What is that?"

The shimmering something was by then recognizable as a viking boat with a dragon figurehead hold up with ropes by dozens of dragons.

"It's Hiccup, Dad!" Hilja excitedly exclaimed.

"And our dragons!" Astrid added, equally excited.

The Vikings began to cheer and finally the ship landed, countless baby dragons spilling out of it. The vikings cheered even louder.

Upon letting go of the rope, Meatlug started to look around for her children. When she found them she landed in front of them and spit out a big amount of fish, which the little ones eagerly ate.

"MEATLUG!" Fishlegs had made out his dragon and tackled her with a hug.

"Stormfly! You're back!" Astrid happily hugged her dragon. "And there are babies!" she began to squeal.

Hiccup and Hookfang landed in front of the ship, the boy was beaming from ear to ear.

Hilja rushed to him and hugged him as soon as he dismounted.

"I'm glad you're back and okay." she said once she loosened her grip around him.

"Hahaha! Well done, son!" Stoick's booming voice praised, before he joined his kids, giving them a big bear hug.

Both gasped for air once their dad let go of them.

"Thanks, Dad!" Hiccup smiled.

Hilja was now running off to greet her own dragon.

"Wildfire! It's so good to here again! And look at those babies of yours!" she greeted the scuttleclaw and her hatchlings. When she stood up again, Wildfire dropped something in her hands.

"What is this?" She questioningly looked at the red slightly see-through stone in her hand.

Before Hilja could ask anyone about it, Stoick once again shouted through the village: "Everyone! Grab your dragons! To the Great Hall! We finally have something to celebrate!"

* * *

The Great Hall was almost to small for all the people and the countless dragons. Everyone was playing with the babies, some already teaching them to spew their fire on command.

"This is the best holiday ever! Howsa baby!" Fishlegs cheered as he tossed one of Meatlug's babies into the air, before communicating with it through baby noises.

Hiccup slowly sauntered through the hall, looking at everyone having a great time with their dragons, before coming to a stop in front of Astrid and Hilja.

"Hiccup, I know this must be really hard for you, seeing everyone with their dragons. But you really did a wonderful thing. Thank you."

Astrid gave him a kiss and hugged him tightly.

"Astrid, where did Toothless go?" he asked her sadly.

"I don't know…" she admitted, before she saw Toothless creeping into the Great Hall.

"Wow, man, I wouldn't wanna be you right now!" she began to tease him. "I mean you brought back everyone's dragon except yours!"

Hiccup irritatedly pulled back. "Yeah, you know, this is not helping, at all."

Astrid grabbed him by the shoulders and with a broad smile turned him around. In exactly the same moment Toothless started running towards his human friend.

"TOOTHLESS! Hey, bud!"

Hiccup hugged his dragon tightly, while a bit away, Gobber gave a light punch to the chief. "Stoick!" he whispered and gestured to Hiccul and Toothless.

Hiccup let go of his dragon to stand in front of him.

"Bad dragon! Very bad dragon! You scared me to death. Don't ever stay away that long again, and what is in your mouth?"

Upon Hiccup mentioning it, Toothless opened his mouth and placed Hiccup's spit covered helmet on his head.

Snotlout, Astrid, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut groaned in disgust, while Hilja walked a few steps away.

"Don't expect me to hug you again like that!" she smiled at her brother.

The boy hadn't yet realised what just happened.

"Yeah, you found my helmet. What-hey! You found my helmet! That's where you've been? Buddy, thank you! You are amazing!"

Boy and dragon hugged again.

"Happy Snoggletog!" Astrid shouted through the Hall.

* * *

Later that night, the twins were sharing a little moment of peace and quiet, sitting outside in the warmth of their dragon's wings, surrounded by several sleeping baby scuttleclaws.

Hilja brought the little red stone out of her pocket.

"Wildfire gave this to me when she returned. Do you have any idea, what kind of gem this is?"

She gave the stone to Hiccup.

"No, I don't. But I have an idea what to do with it. Do you trust me to take care of this stone for tonight?"

"Of course i do!" Hilja nodded and Hiccup pocketed it.

* * *

The next day, both Haddock kids woke up to Toothless banging on the roof again. Due to going to bed late the night before they were still a bit drowsy when they exited the house together.

It had showed that night so there was no risk for Hiccup to slip on ice again.

"I'm coming, Toothless! Alright, bud, come on down. I was just-" Hiccup called up to the roof a d it was only when he rounded the house's corner that he saw Toothless sitting on the grown, their old flight gear carefully placed in front of him.

"Toothless, what'd you pull this out for? You don't need this anymore. Come on, let's get going."

Toothless moved away from Hiccup, the boy closed the gap again, looking at the dragon with a puzzled expression.

"Would you quit fooling around? You have you new tail now. Toothless?"

Hilja lay a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"I don't think he's fooling around. Look at his face!"

As if on cue Toothless repeatedly hit his tail on the ground until the automatic tailfin flew off.

"Toothless! Stop! What are you doing?"

The dragon once again tugged at the old flight gear, his eyes looking innocently up at Hiccup.

In this moment Hiccup realized the one thing Hilja expressed a second later.

"He really wants to need you to help him fly." the girl whispered in awe.

Hiccup could only nod in agreement.

* * *

"So, do we take of now?" Hilja asked, standing next to an eager Wildfire.

Hiccup was just fastening the last straps of the flight gear.

"No, not yet. Remember how I asked you to trust me with your stone?"

When Hilja nodded he pulled a thin golden necklace out of his pocket. Hilja's eyes lit up.

"You did not!" Then she threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you!" she whispered into his ear before pulling away.

Hiccup helped her to fasten the necklace around her neck. The red gemstone was gleaming in the sunlight, giving of tiny beams of red light.

"You look beautiful with it."

"Thanks."

Before they were able to hug again Wildfire ran between then and headbutted Hilja into the stomach.

"Ouch, it's okay, Wildfire. We're about to take off."

Just before mounting the saddle she turned to the six hatchlings running around them.

"Okay, little guys!" she commanded and amazingly enough the babies stopped and looked at her. "Your momma and I are taking a little flight together. We need you to stay here and take care of yourselves for a while, okay?"

As soon as she finished, the little guys scuttled off, as if they agreed with her.

* * *

**"Winter in Berk lasts most of the year. It hangs on with both hands and won't let go. And the only real comforts against the cold are those you keep close to your heart."**

"Okay, bud, you ready?"

Toothless nodded his approval.

"You too, sis?"

"Yep!"

As soon as he had everyone's confirmation, Hiccup unhooked his leg and somersaulted off of Toothless. Hilja did the same and only a few seconds later, all four of them were freefalling together.

Toothless lightly tapped Hiccup, making the boy spin in the air.

**"Turns out, that was the best Snoggletog ever. That year, I gave my best friend a pretty great gift."**

Just before they crashed into the mountains, the kids mounted their dragons again, shaking snow off the mountains while flying past them.

**"But he gave me a better one! While Wildfire did the same for Hilja."**

* * *

I hope you enjoyed. I have a few announcements to make:

1\. With a heavy heart I decided to put my story "Six years from now" on hiatus. I've been trying for weeks now to write the next chapter, but my writer's block prevents me from doing so. I won't abandon the story but it might take another free months for me to update.

2\. My other story "How she found out" will be continued beginning next Wednesday. As I already have the whole story written down in German, writer's block won't be a problem, as I only have to translate it to English.

3\. I won't start writing or uploading the TV show for my AU as long as my other stories are still ongoing. This hiatus could last several months but I beg you to be patient with me!

So this was it for now. Have a nice week everyone!


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